Greetings, BZPers. Long time no see. Still care about BIONICLE? Cool. Love art? Fantastic! As it so happens, we do too, and we stand in a position to brighten your day just a little bit. But, as is often the case, we can't do it without a bit of help.So, here's the scratch. Or rather, lack of it. You see, we're all busy folks, but more importantly, we're all busy folks without much cash to spare; what with things like rent, car payments, and the like (oh and the wiki itself; thanks Swert!), we find our pockets depressingly light at times. And so, it seems rather ironic that at the time we have finished forking over all of our cash to The Man (just kidding - pay your taxes, folks!), we are presented with a nifty opportunity for a nice piece of BIONICLE artwork, from one of the original artists himself, a certain Mr. Carlos D'Anda!Mr. D'Anda recently took a select few commissions, and said that he would be more than happy to do a BIONICLE piece for the fans. However, as with all of us, Mr. D'Anda has bills to pay, and mouths to feed (okay, maybe that last one isn't a problem for all of us yet), and, sadly, there is nothing in this world for free.And so it is that we need a bit of help reaching our goal of the commission cost; we have a few funders, but it's not enough to take us there yet. And because Kickstarter appears to be a rip-roaring success, we thought we'd try and do things their way."Aha, but Dorek," you say. "What is it that the gracious Mr. D'Anda will be drawing for us?""A delightful question, my handsome fellow/fellowette," I respond. "Let me answer your question with another: What would you like?"Yes, we have narrowed down our own personal selection of choices, but we are more than willing to hear what the fans want. But first, the nitty-gritty:The Donations:$1 - Donating a dollar nets you a nice self-pat on the back, and an image of Gene Wilder whispers into your ear: "So shines a good deed, in a weary world".$5 - Donating five dollars gets you a feeling of moral accomplishment, and an autographed picture of you high-fiving a BS01 staffer at the next convention that one of them appears.$13* - Donating thirteen dollars gets you my undying gratitude, as well as the high-resolution image in its entirety; not even the wiki gets that!$20 - You'd donate twenty dollars? I'll hug you at BrickCon is what I'll give you for that (in addition to the aforementioned goodies).*For Paypal users - other forms of donation are $10The Payment:Our internal goal is $200 - keep in mind that this is the maximum amount we need, and we can adapt to an as-yet undisclosed minimum if need be. We accept any and all forms your hard-earned money, but we'd much prefer Paypal, as that keeps things manageable. All of the money earned will go towards the picture; any extra money received will be refunded.Current $ Status: 200/200!!!!Now, assuming we make our goal (which makes panda bears happy, for some strange reason; you all like pandas, right?), that still leaves the actual subject matter. We've come up with four choices representing a spectrum of sets over the course of BIONICLE (with some additional personal criteria of not having a good, or any, comic picture available to them), which is generally what we're leaning toward. That said, if you feel particularly passionate about another character/image, or have an inspired suggestion, let us know! We're all ears.The BS01 staff pics are:2003 Teridax ("Shadow Titan" Makuta)AxonnLesovikk (with Sea Sled)GaardusIf you're willing to help, please let us know! Anything would be appreciated. PM's would be better if you wish to keep your donation private, but if you want to publicly pledge, go for it! If you just have some comments, or suggestions, we'd love to hear that too.Thanks to a series of exciting donations, we reached our maximum goal today!!! We appreciate all the pledges we've received, and look forward to where this goes.We're still in a deliberation process on what exactly we want drawn; head on over to the voting booth to discuss in our poll!

I'm sorry, but these choices really seem strange - if you're going to spend this money, you should go for something as iconic as possible, no? Why of all the options is a rubbish combiner from 2010 on your list? Or a side character from 2007? Makuta's a little more defensible but I think if you're going to be spending money like this, especially other people's money, you should give them better options :/

What you call "iconic" we call "something he already did before"; why ask him to retread old ground? We were even putting around the idea of Hero Factory, but we didn't want to waste the opportunity for something brand new.Pretty sure I made it clear that people can suggest their own ideas, I'm just providing a springboard from ours. 2003 Teridax is what we're leaning to most heavily right now, but there's a universe to pick from. If you have a suggestion, we want to hear it.

I'm seriously considering donating to get that picture. The old style of Bionicle was awesome! I'd like to see Lesovikk (just because he's one of my favorite characters), but I can see the practicality of Teridax. Gaardus, not so much. The other suggestions I have would be something like this, or maybe Toa Ignika going into the Codrex. I can see what you mean that everything's been done before though, although Matoro's death or Mata Nui rising would be cool if he could do it in a new, epic way.

I'm considering it as well, and my vote goes to Teridax, although a print of the Challenge of the Hordika battle or the giant robot fight wouldn't be bad either. But me, I'm not parting with my cash until I know what I'm getting.

Well this is an interesting campaign. I agree with what Rayg said completely. I don't have any interest in these characters, since they aren't very iconic sets (except Makuta, but I already have that). Also, where/how do we donate? You mention PMs, but I'd think this kind of thing would be better done through PayPal. I'd think you guys could really just put a PayPal donate button on the site. It could easily be developed into a special page, in which you could even use it after you get your $200.

DISCLAIMER: All opinions and contributions made under this account are based solely on my own personal thoughts and opinions, and in no way represent any of the above groups/entities. If you have any concerns or inquiries about the contributions made under this account, please contact me individually and I will address them with you to the best of my ability.

Whoops, totally had forgotten that we had Axonn as a heavy contender. Fix'd. Anyway...Obviously, one person's iconic is not another's, and there's no one picture that will satisfy everybody, but I'll look into having a poll made. And like I said, we implore the offering of fresh new ideas; "I don't think I want X" is far less helpful than "I think that Y would be cool".That said, it will most likely be a single character, as the price we were given specified one character; it's possible we could get away with a scene, like Matoro using the Ignika, but a whole grouping of characters is less likely.And info about paying options can be PM'ed to me.

Well this is an interesting campaign. I agree with what Rayg said completely. I don't have any interest in these characters, since they aren't very iconic sets (except Makuta, but I already have that). Also, where/how do we donate? You mention PMs, but I'd think this kind of thing would be better done through PayPal. I'd think you guys could really just put a PayPal donate button on the site. It could easily be developed into a special page, in which you could even use it after you get your $200.

Edit: Why did I say prizes? I need sleep.... ._.

Wouldn't that be problematical, seeing as the BS01 staff need to know who donated what so they can send the high-res prints to the people who paid? They need a way to keep track of who paid what for certain, and PMs are the easiest way to do that.

Yes, part of the reason I was a bit skeptical of using a poll is that it would be harder to keep track of who would pay for what; this is a pretty specific one-time instance that we're doing this. Never done anything like it before, and I don't see us getting the opportunity to again.But, at the same time, I get that writing a blank check, so to speak, isn't what most people have in mind, which is why I'd like typed ideas; I don't want to force anybody to think they have to vote a certain way, but I'd like to know what everybody is thinking!(the BBC curse in a nutshell, isn't it?)

Is one character the only option, or are a group of them allowed? If a group, I nominate either the Toa Mahri or Toa Newva. Of these options, I don't like any of them. If the image was colored and all, I'd say Teridax, but otherwise these all seem like poor choices.

Did Mr D'Anda specify whether or not he needs to have a source model to work from? If he doesn't, maybe we could suggest a character from the story who doesn't have an image, say Tren Krom or Lariska for example, and as the BS01 team are still actively in touch with Greg, it wouldn't take long for him to accept the image into the official canon.

If he does, I personally wouldn't like yet another 2003 Teridax. Yes, he's iconic, but he's also been done many times before, and I'd like to see something new being drawn. Gaardus I wouldn't mind as I like the character in the story serials and Mr D'Anda doesn't have to draw him looking exactly like the combiner model (who so many hate for some reason).

Either way, this has my support and my donation.

0

For me, BIONICLE was an epic science fantasy saga with a deep and complex lore, and was best when it was exactly that in its later years. I'm not sorry if that offended you.

Did Mr D'Anda specify whether or not he needs to have a source model to work from? If he doesn't, maybe we could suggest a character from the story who doesn't have an image, say Tren Krom or Lariska for example, and as the BS01 team are still actively in touch with Greg, it wouldn't take long for him to accept the image into the official canon. If he does, I personally wouldn't like yet another 2003 Teridax. Yes, he's iconic, but he's also been done many times before, and I'd like to see something new being drawn. Gaardus I wouldn't mind as I like the character in the story serials and Mr D'Anda doesn't have to draw him looking exactly like the combiner model (who so many hate for some reason). Either way, this has my support and my donation.

Even if he were willing to make a character up from scratch (which I doubt he would for a basic commission), it'd be a LOT of money for a design that might not be able to be made official.I'm not too concerned with what character gets drawn, since I see no compelling need for new art of any of these characters, and I am not involved heavily on BS01 anymore, or too passionate about BIONICLE. But I'm sure whatever D'Anda draws will look excellent.

0

The call of a Dragonin danger to save.All must unite,with Magic, be brave!

This sounds great, I would donate $10 just to get that full resolution picture.

I find 2003 Teridaxthe best between the 4 options.

If possible you could ask him if he would draw the fight between Takanuva and Makuta (as in the movie). That would be iconic in my eyes. Just an idea, as it doesn't require a whole group like a toa team but only two characters.

Old school Takua gets some love, huh? Go figure.So, good news and bad news; good news is that we're at 70 dollars so far; that's not too bad, all things considered. Over a third of the way there!The bad news is that I had to bump the 10 dollar donation up to 13 dollars, because Paypal is a bad person about fees. I'm not going to penalize any early adopters for it, but it's just the way Paypal works. If you are paying with other forms, it's still 10. If there's high enough demand, it might come back down, but it's clearer this way.

Personally, I would love to see him do something like this but more in his style. Something very spectacular and memorable for Matoro that will remind me of the first panels of the comics and that picture.

Personally, I would love to see him do something like this but more in his style. Something very spectacular and memorable for Matoro that will remind me of the first panels of the comics and that picture.

As cool as that would be, the point of this is primarily to get an image for the wiki, and getting a new version of an image we already have from another artist wouldn't really make much sense.

0

The call of a Dragonin danger to save.All must unite,with Magic, be brave!

I don't know, I'd be willing to pitch in for this but I really don't like the choices, but with that said I can't really think of anything that'd be appealing either.

This price is kinda steep for one character, and that kind of limits the options quite a bit. I'd like to see a piece showcasing the evolution of someone, so something along the lines of a drawing of Takua, with Takanuva standing behind him similar to this would be pretty cool, and that could work for all the Inika too, which we've never seen in a style like D'Anda's.

Would he be willing to draw a small character and a large one? Or is that out of the question?

Also is this just pencils we're talking about here? Or is he planning on inking this himself? I doubt we'd be getting this in full color, but if so that would be totally worth the money.

I don't know, I'd be willing to pitch in for this but I really don't like the choices, but with that said I can't really think of anything that'd be appealing either.

This price is kinda steep for one character, and that kind of limits the options quite a bit. I'd like to see a piece showcasing the evolution of someone, so something along the lines of a drawing of Takua, with Takanuva standing behind him similar to this would be pretty cool, and that could work for all the Inika too, which we've never seen in a style like D'Anda's.

Would he be willing to draw a small character and a large one? Or is that out of the question?

Also is this just pencils we're talking about here? Or is he planning on inking this himself? I doubt we'd be getting this in full color, but if so that would be totally worth the money.

I'll see about character evolution; Takua seems to be a popular pick, so this is an interesting idea.

D'Anda himself would not be doing color. We were given options for B&W, and the slightly more expensive grayscale. I'm hoping if we reach our full goal, we can use the spare money to send it to some LEGO colorists; we still have a few contacts here and there that I think we can call on for help.

Alternatively, we could do some kind of art contest for the coloring, but I'm trying not to get too ahead of myself here.

I'd have to look into bank transfers specifically, but pretty much everything is laden with fees these days, which is how paypal still does such good business; people are willing to put up with the fees for the amount of the convenience that it provides.

We can also take cash or check - I generally prefer cash, but obviously people don't feel as secure about sending it - but then you're still paying for a stamp. I might be overestimating the cost of a stamp or two, but it had to come from somewhere.

As I said, paypal works despite the fees because of efficiency; additionally, I believe we are paying via paypal, and if you draw from your available paypal balance (which is where all of the current funds are) then they don't charge you the fee, so it's saving money down the line.

I have some stuff for other things I need to sort out in my Paypal, but I reckon I could donate up to about $30, probably within the next week. Just to keep the ball rolling... and I like the sound of those "premium perks" so far

Will pop you a PM when I'm ready, Dorek.

0

For me, BIONICLE was an epic science fantasy saga with a deep and complex lore, and was best when it was exactly that in its later years. I'm not sorry if that offended you.

Might be a bit late for the purposes of the picture, but if we have some coloring done after the fact, it could work then.

I have some stuff for other things I need to sort out in my Paypal, but I reckon I could donate up to about $30, probably within the next week. Just to keep the ball rolling... and I like the sound of those "premium perks" so far

I'll donate if you can guarantee that he draws Axonn and Brutaka making out. The entirity of their relationship is based on that tension. It'd be nice to have a picture of them in an intimate moment. It's not been seen, AND I think it adds a lot to the story. Failing that, Lhikan and Nidhiki, for similar reasons.

Sorry, not happening. I'm not going to have this on BS01, strictly because it does not add to the site nor does it portray any of the characters you mentioned in a "canon" role.What you ask simply isn't what I'm willing to put money forward to having.

The poll isn't exactly binding (and it's tied right now as it is anyway), it's just a better discussion place for ideas. As for weighting votes, I'm never a huge fan of that. Everybody should get at least some kind of a say, and I want to hear from people even if they aren't donating.